1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic visual indication system for a vehicle and more particularly to an electronic visual indication system for a vehicle that is viewable from outside the vehicle for verifying whether the operator of the vehicle has current vehicle insurance.
2. Background of the Invention
Many states have enacted legislation which requires drivers of vehicles to have vehicle insurance and in particular liability insurance to cover the expenses of a third party involved in an accident with the insured vehicle. Violations of these statutes are normally determined after the vehicle has been involved in an accident. Unfortunately, based on the status of the current legislation of the various states, there are no known means to insure that vehicle operators have current vehicle insurance. Although some states require proof of insurance before a vehicle operator can obtains a license for the vehicle, vehicle licenses are only renewed on an annual basis. The vehicle insurance for that vehicle can expire any time within that one-year. Accordingly, the potential exists for vehicle operators to operate their vehicles without vehicle insurance as required by several of the state statutes.
With the present system, as mentioned above, these violators are normally not caught until it is too late; until after they have been involved in an accident with the third party or during initial citation processing after the vehicle has been stopped. Unfortunately, such uninsured motor vehicle operators cause increased insurance costs as well as impose financial burdens to the other parties involved in the accident. In particular, insured motor vehicle operators with uninsured motor vehicle insurance coverage, when involved in an accident with uninsured motor vehicle operators, will normally file a property claim with their own insurance company, leaving it up to their insurance company to try and collect from the uninsured motor vehicle operator. For those insured drivers who do not have uninsured motor vehicle coverage, these insured drivers must absorb the cost of property damage resulting from the accident themselves; thus placing a burden on society in general. In addition, medical expenses resulting from the accident are often passed onto the injured party""s health insurance provider. Thus, there is a need for a system for determining whether a motor vehicle operator has valid motor vehicle insurance prior to being involved in an accident.
Briefly, the present invention relates to an electronic visual indication system for a motor vehicle which indicates whether the motor vehicle has current motor vehicle insurance coverage. The electronic visual indication system is configured so that it is viewable from the outside of the automobile to enable law enforcement officials to enforce the state statutes requiring motor vehicle operators to have current motor vehicle insurance without stopping the vehicle and manually checking the motor vehicle operator""s proof of insurance. In one embodiment of the invention, the electronic vehicle indication system is enabled by, for example, a smart card, magnetic card, machine readable code, such as a bar code or a substrate or the like (collectively referred to as a validation card), which enables the electronic vehicle indication system for a predetermined period of time. The validation card is adapted to be validated by an insurance agent for the validation period of the insurance coverage for the motor vehicle. The validation card, in turn, is used to enable the electronic vehicle indication system to provide a visual indication of vehicle insurance coverage while a vehicle is in motion to facilitate enforcement of various state laws requiring such insurance coverage by law enforcement personnel.